True Detective is back on top form
Jodie Foster has found a role worthy of her talent as Liz Danvers, the hard-nosed chief of police in a perpetually dark Alaskan town.
True Detective: Night Country
Binge, from January 15
The first season of True Detective, a brooding, mysterious slice of Southern Gothic crime, was miraculous. The second was utter tosh, and the third was fine but ultimately forgettable. Those who have stuck with the franchise will be rewarded with this absolute banger of a fourth season. The show’s creator, Nic Pizzolatto, took a back seat and let Mexican director Issa Lopez — who made the horror gem Tigers Are Not Afraid, worth adding to your watchlist — steer this season. It’s all the better for it. The highlight is, of course, Jodie Foster. It’s divine seeing her in a role worthy of her talent. She plays Liz Danvers, the hard-nosed chief of police in the remote Alaska town of Ellis. Nobody particularly likes her, especially her policing partner Evangeline Navarro — played by Kali Reis, a former boxer turned first-time actor, who holds her own opposite Foster. The case driving the season revolves around a remote research station where the entire crew mysteriously vanishes, and the only real evidence left at the scene is a woman’s severed tongue. The show takes place in midwinter, where it’s dark all the time, and cinematographer Florian Hoffmeister (Tar) has shot it beautifully — it feels like stepping into a haunted Gregory Crewdson photograph.
Wild Scandinavia
Binge
Watching this lush documentary about Scandinavian wildlife while nursing a New Year’s Day hangover was like taking a massage gun directly to the brain. It has all the expected delights: natural landscapes so pristine and gleaming you start to suspect they’re AI-generated; gobsmacking action shots of eagles and orcas; puffins and seals so adorable you’ll find yourself reduced to “ooh-ing” and “ahh-ing”. What makes Wild Scandinavia so thrilling is the human element. We tend to take the genius, eternally patient camera crews behind these documentaries for granted. In this, they’re front and centre — there’s a particularly nailbiting scene of the crew trekking up a dangerous mountain in the middle of a violent Arctic storm; also, a sequence in which Norwegian base jumper Hege Ringard launches herself off a 900m-high cliff along the fjords, and coolly observes, “I’m just being there in the moment … I’m not thinking about what’s for dinner.”
Best Interests
ABC iview
Why not kick off the new year with a massive, snotty sob? This four-part drama by award-winning playwright Jack Thorne (Harry Potter and the Cursed Child), is about the battle between the parents of a teenage girl, Marnie (Niamh Moriarty) — who has a rare, aggressive form of muscular dystrophy and is comatose on a life-support machine — and the medical professionals who argue that she should be withdrawn from treatment, and allowed to die. Michael Sheen is brilliant as ever as Marnie’s dad, Andrew, who is constantly stress-scoffing crisps, and is the parent most inclined to listen to the medical professionals. But it is Sharon Horgan, who we’re used to seeing in comedy roles in series such as Bad Sisters and Catastrophe, that will leave you in bits. She is transfixing as Marnie’s mum, Nicci, who is resolute in making sure her daughter lives. It’s a knockout.
The Tourist
Season 2, Stan
Harry and Jack Williams’ preposterously entertaining road thriller returns for a second season. If you missed the first: Jamie Dornan (The Fall) plays an Irishman in the outback simply known as The Man. After being run off the road by a menacing lorry, he wakes up with amnesia. He can’t remember his name, what he is doing in Australia, why he seems to have a target on his back, and, crucially, who are Simon and Garfunkel. Season two picks up 14 months later, with The Man returning to Ireland on the insistence of Danielle MacDonald’s Helen — a bumbling but good natured small-time cop: “Time to find out who you really are.” The Coen Brothers were clearly a
big inspiration here, but the whole thing is reminiscent of the unsung 1981 Australian thriller Road Games. This isn’t a show that requires much thinking, but if you’re looking for bracing entertainment, it’s one wild ride.
The Expats
Prime Video, from January 26
Arriving on Prime Video later this month is the new Nicole Kidman-produced series, Expats. The six-part series, adapted from Janice YK Lee’s superb 2016 novel The Expatriates, revolves around three women from other parts of the world who are all living in Hong Kong and are connected by tragedy. Kidman plays Margaret, a wealthy American expatriate who is stuck in grief limbo after the disappearance of her young son. It is directed by Lulu Wang — who made the Independent Spirit Award-winning family drama The Farewell — and is one of those rare shows where you can tell that the director had all the creative control. The fifth episode, Central, which has an audacious 96-minute run time and centres on the unseen lives of Hong Kong’s domestic workers against the backdrop of the 2014 Umbrella Movement protests, is one of the most magnificent stand-alone TV episodes in years. This is a Kidman production, so expect fabulous parties and gorgeous dresses.